During open heart surgery, it is the standard of care that the Anesthesiologist does blood gases to check the saturation of oxygen in the tissues. He starts an arterial line to draw blood gasses and labs during the surgery. This is a one time arterial puncture to float the arterial catheter in place. He draws blood from the pressure tubing and sends blood gases and lab work to the operating room lab or respiratory therapy analyzer.
The claim charged the patient for four Arterial Punctures. Two on the day of surgery and two the day after. Each puncture was charged at $ 205.00 each. The only reason two arterial punctures would be added the day after surgery is if the arterial line would have fallen out and even in this case it is still the technical component of the test.
On the day of surgery there were two overlap of charges of “Arterial blood gases” and “Blood gases with calculation oxygen saturation.” The Arterial blood gas charges were $ 1,591.00 each.
Post surgery the patient is prepared to be removed from the respirator. The blood gas should be included in the anesthesia evaluation.
On this area of the claim, Hopewell Risk successfully reduced $ 4,002.00 of the charges.
